During our 3 month stint here in China I like to say that Mallory and I have become quite the locals here in the area around her school. The guards all know us, the hotel lady, and even the shop owners right outside the gates. A little shop we visit nearly daily is owned by a little lady we like to call “Thelma.” She just laughs and says hello every time we stop by. Two shops down is the “tong shui” place. It’s a little place to get nice, cool fruity dessert type things. And then at the end out on the street is a man who makes these great little burrito things. It’s like pancake batter smeared on a griddle. An egg is cracked on it and smeared over the pancake/crepe thing. Then some seasonings and veggies are thrown on, followed by some brown sauce and some crunchy little tortilla chip things. This is all rolled up and put in a bag ready for enjoyment for only 2.5 yuan. A great deal!!
Well last night Mallory and I went out for a burrito and we realized our true VIP status among the local shop owners. The burrito man is only out for business in the evenings and it seems to be quite a popular treat among the students as there is always quite a crowd standing around waiting to get one. But on this particular occasion, Mallory and I strolled up and the VIP treatment began. First, we could tell we were getting something special because as he was making the burrito he began to put cucumbers on it. This is something special that typically isn’t on the burritos. We make a special request for it. So we just walk up and the fact that all the people are out there waiting is nothing at all, we are moved straight to the front of the line. We get our burritos made especially to our likings and we get them fast! Then, we asked the man how much we owed him and he began rambling in Chinese and waving his arms! He would not accept our money! So not only did we get excellent service but we got it for free! How’s that for treatment? J I must say, we are going to be a bit sad to leave all this behind us! I have a feeling this red carpet treatment isn’t something we should get used to!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The GRAND finale!
What a fun last week of school....
Monday:
I spoke at the morning assembly to give my thanks to both the students and the teachers. I wanted to thank them for the opportunity and also for the warm welcome that I have recieved. I will truly miss both the kids and the teachers!!
Tuesday:
Dr. Chan (big head hancho principle like guy who only comes once a month) came today. He lives in Australia so he isn't here much. He's probably one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet though. He's chinese but has lived in Australia so long that he has an Australian accent! He's hilarious too! He wrote me a letter giving me thanks and telling me that Kama's doors are always open to me if I ever come back to China.
Wednesday:
We had a nice, cool windy day today. So in the evening during the dinner break me and some of the form 5 girls went outside to fly kites. We did that for a while, then sat and watched a soccer game between the international section and the korean section! That was fun! Then the girls and I went to the canteen for dinner. It was so fun to just get to hang out and talk with them. They are such fun girls and they have so many questions! I was also really impressed with their english! They were asking me all about america, my family, my friends, my town, and even just my opinion on things that are happening in the world. It was so great! Then during the evening study session they came to the office and wanted to see pictures from america and they wanted to listen to english/american music. Oh and it was so sad, they were telling me how much they will miss me. They said, "teacher, really everyone in our class loves you so much and we hate to see you go!!"
Thursday:
I was "invited" today to the party that I wasnt supposed to know about yet. The form 5 kids made me this awesome invitation saying "Miss Jessica, You are warmly welcome to our class on Friday at 11:45am for a special party!!" They were so excited about it too!!
During the dinner break I played in a volleyball game: International section vs. Korean Section. It was a close game, but the International section won!!
And then during the night study classes the International section had a singing contest and I was invited to be a judge for it. The students who entered could only sing in English. It turned out pretty well. We had a lot of glitches with the sound system but it still went well. The students who performed all did fantastic!
As it turned out the winners were:
1st place = two 11th grade students - Vanessa and Dean singing "Way back into love."
2nd place = two 11th grade students - Marissa and Eric singing "Yesterday once more."
3rd place = two 9th grade students - Lynn and Phoebe singing "I'm with you."
Friday:
Monday:
I spoke at the morning assembly to give my thanks to both the students and the teachers. I wanted to thank them for the opportunity and also for the warm welcome that I have recieved. I will truly miss both the kids and the teachers!!
Tuesday:
Dr. Chan (big head hancho principle like guy who only comes once a month) came today. He lives in Australia so he isn't here much. He's probably one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet though. He's chinese but has lived in Australia so long that he has an Australian accent! He's hilarious too! He wrote me a letter giving me thanks and telling me that Kama's doors are always open to me if I ever come back to China.
Wednesday:
We had a nice, cool windy day today. So in the evening during the dinner break me and some of the form 5 girls went outside to fly kites. We did that for a while, then sat and watched a soccer game between the international section and the korean section! That was fun! Then the girls and I went to the canteen for dinner. It was so fun to just get to hang out and talk with them. They are such fun girls and they have so many questions! I was also really impressed with their english! They were asking me all about america, my family, my friends, my town, and even just my opinion on things that are happening in the world. It was so great! Then during the evening study session they came to the office and wanted to see pictures from america and they wanted to listen to english/american music. Oh and it was so sad, they were telling me how much they will miss me. They said, "teacher, really everyone in our class loves you so much and we hate to see you go!!"
Thursday:
I was "invited" today to the party that I wasnt supposed to know about yet. The form 5 kids made me this awesome invitation saying "Miss Jessica, You are warmly welcome to our class on Friday at 11:45am for a special party!!" They were so excited about it too!!
During the dinner break I played in a volleyball game: International section vs. Korean Section. It was a close game, but the International section won!!
And then during the night study classes the International section had a singing contest and I was invited to be a judge for it. The students who entered could only sing in English. It turned out pretty well. We had a lot of glitches with the sound system but it still went well. The students who performed all did fantastic!
As it turned out the winners were:
1st place = two 11th grade students - Vanessa and Dean singing "Way back into love."
2nd place = two 11th grade students - Marissa and Eric singing "Yesterday once more."
3rd place = two 9th grade students - Lynn and Phoebe singing "I'm with you."
Friday:
And now friday, my last day of student teaching, my last day in Dongguan, my last day at Kama. It was such a great day. Everyone has known that this would be my last day so today in all my classes the students all were sure to tell me they would miss me and such. And I made sure to get pictures of all my classes. So the classes in general were fun.
Then during lunch I went to my party that the Form 5 kids were throwing for me. The party started at 11:45, so me and some of the other teachers walked down to the Form 5 classroom. They were all there, plus the form 3 kids and the form 1 kids! They had big tables up in the middle of the room with all kinds of food and drinks. They had drawn a big sign on one of the chalk boards for me. And they had a whole program worked out. Mr Goh said some words and then the form 5 class had a song to sing to me. They sang me an English song, "Goodbye my friend." It was amazing!!! I won't lie, I nearly cried!! Then at the end of the song one of them ran to the back room and came out with a big bouquet of flowers! They told me that they all had a special meaning. There were blue flowers meaning "dont forget me," roses mean "we love you," daisies are "always remember," and lilies are "good luck." Then they had me go up front to say a few words. So I thanked them for the wonderful party and told them how much I would miss them all! Then they brought me out a gift. They had made me two photo albums so that I "never forget them!" They are awesome. Then Madame Gao, the principle of the international section came and presented me with a gift from Kama. It is a crystal plaque with the school emblem and seal. It is really nice!
Then we all just hung out and ate lunch! They even went out and got pizza for the party! Those kids are wonderful!! I'm going to miss them so much!
Finally, later in the evening I went out to dinner with all the Intenational section teachers. We got so spend time together for one last time and we had a really good time. I am also going to miss the teachers as well! They have all been so wonderful!
Tomorrow (saturday) I will leave Kama International School. They have arranged a car to pick me up at 9am to take me back to Guangzhou to Mallory's school. I will get to hang out there for a bit, then our adventure to Xi'an and Beijing will begin. Then it is back to America!!
So in conclusion, its a bittersweet ending. I am glad to be able to say that I am finished with student teaching and I will soon be returning to America. But at the same time I am so sad to go. I have loved being in China and I will miss my students SO much. This has been such an amazing experience and I could not have asked for a better end to it!!
Also: I have uploaded a ton of pictures from my last week (mostly from my last day) to my flickr site! Check them out! <-- follow this link!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
I survived Neoguri
Almost forgot... Saturday was kind of a dreary day anyway, but by evening a typhoon had made landfall in the Guangdong province! We were on our way home from dinner with Sharon after our presentation and I have never seen such hard rain. It was crazy! We were in a taxi on the way home and the streets were just flooding. It was raining so hard and so fast that the water just had no where to go. And it was so windy! So windy that it broke my umbrella actually!! There were people out trying to take cover in shops and under small street stands and with cardboard over their heads to keep them dry. People were all trying to get taxis or get on buses. They were all just rushing around trying to get out of the rain and wind!
But by the morning it had calmed down and the rain was moving on inland. When we were walked to the bus stop for church in the morning there were people out sweeping up leaves and trash from where they had been blown everywhere. They were also cleaning up a big tree limb that fell on the campus.
Here's a few articles I found online about it:
Typhoon kills 18 in China
Aug 20, 2007 04:30 AM
BEIJING– A typhoon that killed 18 people in China had weakened to a tropical storm as it headed inland, where mines were ordered to close and over a million people had sought safety.
Tropical Storm Sepat, which had made landfall as a typhoon in China yesterday bringing torrential rain and powerful winds, had also damaged houses, ruined crops and cut power supply lines in eastern and southern China, Xinhua news agency said.
Eleven people were killed in Zhejiang by a tornado that spun off the typhoon and wrecked houses. In Fujian province to the south, two people were killed and one was missing in a landslide.
In the southern province of Guangdong, floods spawned by the storm had killed at least five, with eight missing.
Earlier, the storm killed at least one in Taiwan and three in the Philippines.
Sepat was expected to hit Hubei Province in central China from today until Wednesday.
Typhoon Neoguri kills 3 in China
Published: April 21, 2008 at 12:52 AM
BEIJING, April 21 (UPI) -- Typhoon Neoguri, the first such storm to hit China this year, has killed at least three people in south Guangdong province, officials said.Two of the victims died in a mud flow in Shenzen City Sunday, and the third died in Zhuhai city after being struck by an aluminum sheet blown off a stadium roof by strong winds, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.The typhoon hit south China Saturday with heavy rains and strong winds.Shantou city was pounded by heavy rains for more than 10 hours Sunday.In Yangjiang city, where Neoguri landed, the storm affected about 274,000 people and flooded thousands of acres of farm land.
18 missing as Typhoon Neoguri hits Chinese island
GUANGZHOU, China - Tropical storm Neoguri brushed over China's southern Hainan island on Saturday, leaving 18 fishermen missing and stranding thousands of travelers, state-run media reported.Apr 20, 2008 - 9:55:18 AM
But by the morning it had calmed down and the rain was moving on inland. When we were walked to the bus stop for church in the morning there were people out sweeping up leaves and trash from where they had been blown everywhere. They were also cleaning up a big tree limb that fell on the campus.
Here's a few articles I found online about it:
Typhoon kills 18 in China
Aug 20, 2007 04:30 AM
BEIJING– A typhoon that killed 18 people in China had weakened to a tropical storm as it headed inland, where mines were ordered to close and over a million people had sought safety.
Tropical Storm Sepat, which had made landfall as a typhoon in China yesterday bringing torrential rain and powerful winds, had also damaged houses, ruined crops and cut power supply lines in eastern and southern China, Xinhua news agency said.
Eleven people were killed in Zhejiang by a tornado that spun off the typhoon and wrecked houses. In Fujian province to the south, two people were killed and one was missing in a landslide.
In the southern province of Guangdong, floods spawned by the storm had killed at least five, with eight missing.
Earlier, the storm killed at least one in Taiwan and three in the Philippines.
Sepat was expected to hit Hubei Province in central China from today until Wednesday.
Typhoon Neoguri kills 3 in China
Published: April 21, 2008 at 12:52 AM
BEIJING, April 21 (UPI) -- Typhoon Neoguri, the first such storm to hit China this year, has killed at least three people in south Guangdong province, officials said.Two of the victims died in a mud flow in Shenzen City Sunday, and the third died in Zhuhai city after being struck by an aluminum sheet blown off a stadium roof by strong winds, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.The typhoon hit south China Saturday with heavy rains and strong winds.Shantou city was pounded by heavy rains for more than 10 hours Sunday.In Yangjiang city, where Neoguri landed, the storm affected about 274,000 people and flooded thousands of acres of farm land.
18 missing as Typhoon Neoguri hits Chinese island
GUANGZHOU, China - Tropical storm Neoguri brushed over China's southern Hainan island on Saturday, leaving 18 fishermen missing and stranding thousands of travelers, state-run media reported.Apr 20, 2008 - 9:55:18 AM
Thursday, April 17, 2008
The end is near!
Well... I can now count the number of remaining school days on one hand. You always here the saying "time flies" but I've never known it could be so true. Time really has flown here in China.
Things are going great! I'm staying super busy as usual. Between teaching during the week and travelling to Mallory's in Guangzhou on the weekends there isn't much time for writing.
Recently Mallory and I were asked by Prof. Qiang (the lady who heads the English Immersion Program in China) to give a presentation for a group of primary school english teachers. We were to present methods for teaching english to children. (Reminder: I am not an English teacher and neither of us are primary school teachers!) So Mallory and I prepared a powerpoint (or PPT as the chinese all call it) and some props and gave a 1 hour presentation to this group of teachers, principles, and school supervisors. We didn't know it when we first began but it was apparently a pretty big deal. There were some pretty important school officials there for it. But we did well. We went through the presentation, had some Q&A time, then of course some pictures. Then as it turns out, some men who are in charge of a middle school in GZ were so impressed with our presentation that they wanted us to present to their school's staff as well. But with time constraints we just aren't going to be able to do it. What an honor though that they even asked!
In other news, teaching is going well. I love that I can see improvement in my classes with each week. I really am truly impressed by these students. At the beginning there were some students who just made me dread going to class, and now to see those very students working, trying, and succeeding is amazing. I know its a feeling that most teachers hope for during their careers and I have seen it just in the short 10 weeks that I have been here.
I have also begun to realize how much I am going to miss these kids. The 11th (a group of 10) and 12th (a group of 3 boys) grade in particular! I have got to know them all and its going to be so hard to leave knowing that I will probably never see these people again. That is rough. I've been having so much fun with them lately too. They are really coming out of their shells and opening up to me and its great. Last week there was a school wide talent show and one of the 11th grade girls performed. So the rest of the class and me all went to support her! We went for the rehersal and the big show! It was so fun! Then this week there is going to be a singing competition in the International Section. But in this one students must sing only English songs. So any extra time in school is spent singing and practicing. And its so funny, they will stop mid song to ask pronunciation of words. But I'm really looking forward to the actual performances. There are some pretty good ones!
Also, the 11th graders are all pulling together and are throwing me a "surprise" going away party! (they don't know that I know!) I think that is so awesome that these kids are doing that for me. They are getting all of the grades that I teach involved and are going to "surprise" me Friday afternoon. They even are making me a scrapbook filled with all kinds of things from my time here! I was just floored by this! I couldn't believe it! It's so funny too. Like I said, they don't know that I know, so they think they are all being sneaky and they ask me completely random questions during class trying to figure things out for this party. Then they will talk to each other in Chinese about it! I just couldn't be more excited though. It's going to be such a great time!
I am just really, really going to miss them though. I will be sad to leave. But in nearly every class I teach they have already asked for my email address and have sent a paper around the class for all of them to write theirs down for me. They all are so excited and say that they want to keep in contact with me! So I definitely plan to!
Oh, then friday night (after the student's party) the teacher's are having a little going away party for me too. I think that we are all going to go out to dinner! So that will be fun!! Between singing competitions and parties this last week is really going to fly by!
Then, just another small sidenote-- today was another roller blading day! Too funny! I think I made a kid fall too. I think he was just so surprised to see me! HAHA. And earlier this week they had a kite-flying day! There were about 100 primary school kids out on the football field running around with these tiny brightly colored kites! So cute!! Almost as fun as roller blade day!
Things are going great! I'm staying super busy as usual. Between teaching during the week and travelling to Mallory's in Guangzhou on the weekends there isn't much time for writing.
Recently Mallory and I were asked by Prof. Qiang (the lady who heads the English Immersion Program in China) to give a presentation for a group of primary school english teachers. We were to present methods for teaching english to children. (Reminder: I am not an English teacher and neither of us are primary school teachers!) So Mallory and I prepared a powerpoint (or PPT as the chinese all call it) and some props and gave a 1 hour presentation to this group of teachers, principles, and school supervisors. We didn't know it when we first began but it was apparently a pretty big deal. There were some pretty important school officials there for it. But we did well. We went through the presentation, had some Q&A time, then of course some pictures. Then as it turns out, some men who are in charge of a middle school in GZ were so impressed with our presentation that they wanted us to present to their school's staff as well. But with time constraints we just aren't going to be able to do it. What an honor though that they even asked!
In other news, teaching is going well. I love that I can see improvement in my classes with each week. I really am truly impressed by these students. At the beginning there were some students who just made me dread going to class, and now to see those very students working, trying, and succeeding is amazing. I know its a feeling that most teachers hope for during their careers and I have seen it just in the short 10 weeks that I have been here.
I have also begun to realize how much I am going to miss these kids. The 11th (a group of 10) and 12th (a group of 3 boys) grade in particular! I have got to know them all and its going to be so hard to leave knowing that I will probably never see these people again. That is rough. I've been having so much fun with them lately too. They are really coming out of their shells and opening up to me and its great. Last week there was a school wide talent show and one of the 11th grade girls performed. So the rest of the class and me all went to support her! We went for the rehersal and the big show! It was so fun! Then this week there is going to be a singing competition in the International Section. But in this one students must sing only English songs. So any extra time in school is spent singing and practicing. And its so funny, they will stop mid song to ask pronunciation of words. But I'm really looking forward to the actual performances. There are some pretty good ones!
Also, the 11th graders are all pulling together and are throwing me a "surprise" going away party! (they don't know that I know!) I think that is so awesome that these kids are doing that for me. They are getting all of the grades that I teach involved and are going to "surprise" me Friday afternoon. They even are making me a scrapbook filled with all kinds of things from my time here! I was just floored by this! I couldn't believe it! It's so funny too. Like I said, they don't know that I know, so they think they are all being sneaky and they ask me completely random questions during class trying to figure things out for this party. Then they will talk to each other in Chinese about it! I just couldn't be more excited though. It's going to be such a great time!
I am just really, really going to miss them though. I will be sad to leave. But in nearly every class I teach they have already asked for my email address and have sent a paper around the class for all of them to write theirs down for me. They all are so excited and say that they want to keep in contact with me! So I definitely plan to!
Oh, then friday night (after the student's party) the teacher's are having a little going away party for me too. I think that we are all going to go out to dinner! So that will be fun!! Between singing competitions and parties this last week is really going to fly by!
Then, just another small sidenote-- today was another roller blading day! Too funny! I think I made a kid fall too. I think he was just so surprised to see me! HAHA. And earlier this week they had a kite-flying day! There were about 100 primary school kids out on the football field running around with these tiny brightly colored kites! So cute!! Almost as fun as roller blade day!
Monday, April 7, 2008
Weekend in Shanghai!!
What a great weekend! This past friday was a national holiday in China, QingMing (the tomb sweeping festival) so there was no school on friday. So with the long weekend, Mallory and I set out for Shanghai. We flew up there and met up with our friend Andrew (a friend who helped us out by showing us around Guangzhou during our first 2 weeks) who goes to college in Shanghai. He and his roommate Jack led us around Shanghai for the weekend. Here is a little rundown of our weekend:
Friday
- Went to Cheng Huang Miao - old temples that have been revamped/rebuilt and turned into a shopping center.
- Went to Nan Jing Lu - a pedestrian street that is lined with shops and stores.
- Saw the Wai Tan (The Bund) and took a river cruise on the Huang Pu River at night to see Shanghai at night! Very awesome!
Saturday
- Went to the Shanghai City Museum - Saw the history of shanghai from it's earliest days until now. There was also a South American art exhibit there plus a Rembrandt exhibt there as well.
- Went to the People's Square - big shopping and tourist center.
- Went to Xu Jia Hui - a part of town where we relaxed at starbucks for a while.
- Went SKIING!! We went to an indoor ski slope!! That was so much fun!
Sunday
- Went up into the Oriental Pearl Tower - We were up about 260+ meters overlooking Shanghai and The Bund. It was a bit foggy but still an amazing view!
Then Sunday at 3:45 we flew back! The weekend went WAY too fast! We loved it in Shanghai and didn't want to leave. It is such a beautiful city and the weather was great! It is still a little cool there and its not humid at all compared to Guangzhou. So it was great! But it was a bit bittersweet because we are afraid that may be the last time we get to see our friend Andrew! :(
Anyway, I have posted pictues on my flickr site. So rather than me rambling on about all the things we did, just go check those out! :)
Click --> HERE!!! for my pictures!
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